Seneca Meadows Inc. has submitted additional information requested by state environmental regulators as the company seeks approval for a proposed expansion that could keep the Seneca Falls landfill operating through 2040.
The Finger Lakes Times reported the company provided its responses July 1 to 15 questions raised by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation regarding its latest Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Seneca Meadows received an extension from the original June 20 deadline until July 3.
DEC spokesperson Andrea Pedrick said the agency continues to review the company’s Valley Infill Expansion solid waste management facility application and Air Title V permit application.
If the DEC accepts the environmental impact statement and determines the permit applications are complete, a public comment period will begin. Notices would be published in the state Environmental Notice Bulletin and local newspapers.
Among the issues raised by the DEC were the expansion’s potential impact on groundwater, the amount of recyclable material handled at the facility’s public drop-off area and the need for a landfill settlement monitoring plan.
Regulators also requested more information about proposed traffic mitigation measures and the landfill’s existing leachate treatment system. The DEC said the engineering report and operations plan must include comprehensive descriptions of the system’s components, equipment, treatment methods, operating parameters and monitoring procedures.
The agency also questioned the groundwater flow assessment model included in the application. Regulators said the model does not adequately represent the site’s physical and hydrogeological conditions and should not be used to guide the expansion’s design or regulatory decisions.
Additional concerns involve the former Tantalo Landfill, an inactive hazardous waste site beneath the proposed expansion area. The DEC requested further analysis of how the additional weight of the waste could affect the site’s groundwater contamination plume, leachate system and landfill gas controls.
Regulators also called a proposed groundwater contingency plan inadequate. That plan includes four shallow bedrock extraction wells more than 2,000 feet south of the planned expansion but does not include shallow overburden wells intended to prevent contamination from reaching bedrock groundwater.
The DEC said extraction wells should be activated if monitoring identifies increasing levels of volatile organic compounds or if ordered by the agency. Groundwater sampling information associated with the Tantalo site would need to be submitted to regulators within 60 days of each sampling event.
No public hearings will be scheduled unless the DEC determines the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is complete.
Seneca Meadows submitted its original Valley Infill Expansion application in July 2024. The proposal would add approximately 47 acres of landfill space through an upward expansion and extend the facility’s operating life to 2040.
